India’s home secretary resigns over controversial scam

India has forced its home secretary to resign following allegations that he had attempted to prevent the arrest of a former national congress minister involved in a financial scandal, known as Saradha scam.

According to local media, Anil Goswami, from the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), handed over his resignation to Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday after it was revealed that he had contacted the investigators of India’s federal police, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), to discourage them from arresting Matang Sinh.

The government accepted the resignation with “immediate effect” only four months before the end of his tenure in June, appointing Rural Development Secretary L C Goyal, as the next home secretary.

The CBI has already arrested several top regional politicians and lawmakers for alleged links to the Saradha Group financial scandal that collected around billions of dollars from over 1.7 million depositors, before it collapsed in April 2013. The savers’ money vanished in the scam which advertised the multiplication of savings to four-fold over seven years.

Sinh is charged with criminal conspiracy, cheating and misappropriation of the group’s funds.

The Goswami controversy came in the midst of a major reshuffle in the top ranks of government. Last week, the government removed Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh and appointed S Jaishankar as her successor.

In May 2014, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), led by Narendra Modi, won 274 seats in the 543-seat lower house of parliament, the Lok Sabha.